mission
IMHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission is to promote optimal mental health for children and their families in New Orleans.

corevalues
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IMH BELIEVES

that mental health must be defined broadly and

recognizes that the development of optimal mental health (sometimes
referred to as social-emotional development) is affected by many factors.
We believe that it is important to build on successes by
promoting best practices and innovative approaches that offer
promise.
We believe that issues of race and culture affect mental health
and the provision of services and should be addressed.
We believe that our grants should support programs that
intentionally and specifically address the social-emotional
development of low-income and/or underserved children and
their families in Orleans Parish.
We believe that early intervention and prevention are the most
effective approaches to promoting optimal mental health in
children and their families in our community.
We believe that families are fundamental to their childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
social and emotional development and should be supported in
their parenting.

L E TTE R F R O M E X E CUTI VE DI RE CTO R A ND BO A RD PRE SI DE NT
December 8 marks 80 years since Samuel Zemurray made a visionary gift that launched the Institute of Mental
Hygiene. We were created during a time when the field of child psychiatry was still emerging. IMH continues this
legacy of innovation today, as we evolve in our approach to our mission of promoting optimal mental health for
children and their families in New Orleans. Eighty years ago, we saw child mental health as an issue of individual
pathology. Now, we recognize the critical importance of childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environment on their mental health.
In 2017, IMH made 26 grants totaling $941,080, including key investments in advocacy, diverse delivery, and
collaboration as important strategies to expand access to high-quality environments and programs for children
to learn and develop in New Orleans. This year, we returned to two grant cycles after having to reduce new
grant making to one cycle in 2016 due to existing multi-year commitments and reduced investment returns.
IMH continues to partner with the United Way of Southeast Louisiana to help lead the New Orleans Campaign
for Grade-Level Reading, which uses a collective impact approach to address the fact that just over half of
New Orleans third graders are reading on grade-level. IMH helped spark renewed interest and energy in a local
campaign that has helped engage city leaders in pledging new dedicated city resources to meet the needs
of young children. Our efforts have leveraged more than a decade of work by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
This organization developed a model, now active in over 300 communities nationwide, in which stakeholders
work across sectors to ensure that low-income children succeed in school and graduate prepared for college,
careers, and active citizenship.
In 2017, we welcomed new board members Marialis King and Katie Gibert, whose expertise and passion for
our work help to further and elevate our mission. We are excited to usher in this new decade of our work with
strong leadership, clear focus, and the collective strength of our partners who are committed to moving the
needle for New Orleans children.

THE NEW ORLEANS CAMPAIGN FOR GRADE-LEVEL READING:
A UNIFYING VISION FOR NEW ORLEANS CHILDREN
Over the past few months, the New Orleans Campaign for Grade-Level Reading has
engaged a diverse group of partners in making the city’s investment in young children
a key issue in the 2017 municipal elections in New Orleans. And it’s working.
IMH’s leadership of the Campaign, in partnership with United Way of Southeast
Louisiana, has not only been financial. We have provided thought leadership, informed
campaign strategy, and leveraged and convened our networks.
IMH’s Executive Director Ronald McClain penned an op-ed on the importance of early investment as a
core strategy to address public safety. Decorated military leader and local hero Lt. Russel Honore wrote
about how critical it is to the city’s resilience. United Way of Southeast Louisiana CEO Michael Williamson
co-authored a November letter to the editor with the IMH Executive Director calling for sustained public
investment in quality early care and education seats. Entergy CEO Charles Rice wrote that municipal
support for early care and education is a critical strategy to ensure businesses have the workforce of today
and tomorrow.
Sixty-one organizations – from small businesses to schools – signed a joint statement calling for city
investment to increase access to quality early care and education and quality summer programming for
low-income children. City council members worked together to secure $750,000 in the 2018 city budget
to pilot and evaluate the city’s first-ever direct investment in quality early care and education seats.

“We have
to do a
better job
of improving
access to
all summer
programming. Part of that is
providing additional resources to
NORDC by beginning to leverage
those private dollars that were
promised when the NORD program
was transformed years ago….
The new Office of Youth and
Families I will create will better
connect the New Orleans Recreation
Department, New Orleans Public
Library, sports leagues, health
clinics, and arts and cultural
programs with our schools and
communities.”
New Orleans Mayor-Elect
LaToya Cantrell

A Local Strategy to Improve Third-Grade Reading
IMH has helped develop a ten-year community solutions action plan, which focuses on three primary drivers of third-grade reading proficiency:

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IMPROVING SCHOOL READINESS 2013
data from the Orleans Public Education Network
show that only eight percent of New Orleans
kindergarteners were considered “very ready”
on all five of the Early Development Instrument’s
domains of development. Agenda for Children shows that
12,000 at-risk New Orleans children under age four still do not
have access to an affordable quality early care and education.
The Campaign will focus on increasing supports for families
as children’s first teachers and increasing the number of
quality early care and education seats for birth through threeyear-olds in New Orleans.

REDUCING CHRONIC
ABSENCE in the elementary
grades in New Orleans public
schools by half through:
supporting early warning and
intervention systems across schools,
promoting policy change to incentivize
schools to address chronic absence,
and helping reduce barriers that affect
attendance through health services,
alternative transportation, and access
to clean school uniforms.

ADDRESSING SUMMER SLIDE
that causes low-income students to
lose as much as two school years
of learning before the fourth grade
by partnering with the New Orleans
Recreation Development Commission, schools
and youth development programs to increase
access to quality summer programming for
children and providing families with supports
for summer learning.

City Council President Jason Williams said of the investment, “We have a real opportunity here to place
our city at the national forefront of early childhood education…. [The allocation] moves money in the
general fund to where we need it most: investing in our young people from the very start. We can create
generations of educated, prosperous New Orleanians by putting children on a track for success with highquality early care and education.”
And New Orleans’ next mayor committed publicly to creating a city office of children and families and
dedicating additional city resources toward early care and education and summer learning, particularly for
low-income children.
The New Orleans Campaign for Grade-Level Reading’s 2017 municipal elections advocacy campaign is only
one component of the ambitious ten-year plan that has been developed with input from more than 70
people representing 50 organizations. The plan outlines annual benchmarks toward a long-term vision of
every New Orleans child reading on grade level by the end of the third grade.

ETHAN ASHLEY
Orleans Parish School
Board member and
Director of Policy and
Advocacy for the Center
for Development and
Learning
“I am most excited about
working with IMH as a
partner whose vision and
commitment to systemic
improvement for our city
helps sustain and, in many
ways, lead the way for better
life outcomes for all New
Orleanians, especially
our youth.”

CATHY MCRAE Chair of
Women United: retired
Shell executive

DANA HENRY New
Orleans Director,
Stand for Children

MELANIE BRONFIN Executive
Director of the Louisiana
Policy Institute for Children

“Collectively through the
Campaign for Grade-Level
Reading, we are identifying,
working on, and developing
solutions for tough issues
that will have a positive
impact on the children in
our communities. I can
see a path that will lead to
systemic change and can
convey this message to
our Women United donors
that our investment of time,
advocacy, and money can
be transformational.”

“The Campaign for
Grade-Level Reading has
helped mobilize more
than 60 partners behind
our efforts to secure
dedicated city funding for
early childhood education.
This has moved this from
a ‘someday’ issue to a
‘right now’ issue in the
minds of city leaders.”

“IMH has co-led an exciting
campaign in New Orleans around
grade level reading. As only
funders can do, IMH and the
United Way have brought together
the experts and stakeholders in
the field to define a path forward
for our city and work to move
the needle on this critical issue
of third-grade reading. Their
leadership has been instrumental,
and the Policy Institute is grateful
to see them bringing attention to
the urgent needs of young children
in our community.”

Why Third-Grade
Reading Matters
A growing body of research shows the
importance of reading proficiency in
the third grade, as it is a key predictor
of high school graduation and future
earnings. Third-grade reading scores
have also been used to predict the need
for future prison beds. This is because
third grade marks the transition from
learning to read to reading to learn. If a
student isn’t a proficient reader by the
end of the third grade, national research
shows that he or she is four times more
likely to drop out of school than his
or her peer who is a proficient reader.
Children who drop out of school are 3.5
times more likely to be incarcerated than
their peers who complete high school.
Last year, in New Orleans, only half of
public school third graders scored basic
or above on the iLEAP English Language
Arts exam. Half of Black students,
and 47 percent of economically
disadvantaged students achieved this
critical third-grade milestone, compared
to almost 90 percent of White students,
demonstrating an alarming achievement
gap by race and economic status. As
a result, fewer than three out of four
public school students in New Orleans
complete high school in four years,
which has a significant impact for future
life success.

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grants

SUMMARY OF GRANTS BY TYPE

APRIL 20, 2017 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2017

Grant making at IMH is guided by our mission, our core values and by the areas of focus selected by
the Foundation. IMH funding is limited, by charter, to Orleans Parish. We do not fund capital projects
or individuals. For grant application guidelines, deadlines, and, details, please visit www.imhno.org or
call (504) 566-1852.
GRANT TYPE

GRANT COUNT

Advocacy

GRANT TYPE AMOUNT

2 $60,000

Community-Based 10

$258,000

Core Support

2

$300,000

Early Childhood

9

$268,080

School-Based 3 $55,000
GRANT FUNDING TOTALS

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26 $941,080

ADVOCACY GRANTS
IMH supports advocacy as a strategy to work
toward increased public support for the full
range of mental health services for children
and their families and toward the development
of policies and regulations that promote
quality in the supports and services available to
all children.
IMH also supports organizational efforts to increase and strengthen the voices of children, parents and caretakers in
their communities; and we will support convenings to better inform the public on issues relating to children’s optimal
development and mental health.

CHILD & ADOLESCENT GRANTS
IMH accepts applications for programs providing comprehensive
mental health services in public schools and community based
programming.
SCHOOL-BASED GRANTS
IMH defines comprehensive mental health services as the range
of services necessary to address the barriers to learning that many
children experience. We are especially interested in efforts that
address the barriers that stem from emotional and behavioral
issues and problems, which must be integrated with efforts to
address barriers that stem from learning and physical health
problems. We believe that comprehensive mental health services
need to be rooted in a school climate that welcomes and nurtures
students and their families. IMH supports the use of prevention
programs to build the social and emotional competence of the
entire school population.

COMMUNITY-BASED GRANTS
IMH supports efforts to increase the availability of prevention, early intervention and treatment services in community settings. Such
efforts might include the co-location of mental health services with other well-utilized services for children and their families. IMH
supports the provision of services in locations that are easily accessible to vulnerable populations. We also support the development
of partnerships and collaborations between multiple organizations that serve the same population.

NANCY J. ARONSON CORE SUPPORT GRANTS
IMH provides Core Support Grants to organizations with a proven record of accomplishment. These grants are
intended to provide stable yet flexible dollars to organizations addressing the mental health needs of children and
their families. These grants are named the Nancy J. Aronson Core Support Grants Program in recognition of the
sixteen-year tenure of the first director of IMH and her commitment to supporting the work of nonprofits in the
community. Applications are by invitation only.

EARLY CHILDHOOD
GRANTS
IMH seeks to strengthen and sustain policies, programs,
and providers focusing on early childhood and families
with children from birth to age six.
EARLY CHILDHOOD GRANTS
IMH funds programs that 1) increase the number of children ready for kindergarten by building their social and
behavioral skills; 2) improve the social and emotional well-being of children in early childhood programs; 3) assist
parents and caretakers in parenting their children; and 4) improve the effectiveness of parents and organizations
in advocating for programs and policies that address the social and emotional needs of young children. In
reviewing applicants, we look for the use of evidence-based approaches. IMH also funds early intervention and
treatment programs for young children with mental health issues.
CHILD CARE IMPROVEMENT GRANTS TO PROMOTE DIVERSE DELIVERY
IMH supports diverse delivery, the provision of LA 4 preschool and/or Head Start/Early Head Start services in child
care centers. In each case, these diverse delivery classrooms meet all the standards for each funding stream
and setting involved, providing the highest quality option for the children served. Such partnerships offer many
benefits. Children are better prepared for â&#x20AC;&#x153;big schoolâ&#x20AC;? but remain located in a familiar and developmentally
appropriate setting for pre-K, families are helped to prepare for the transition; schools are assured a class of
children prepared to learn; and child care centers are recognized as partners in the larger effort to provide the
best-quality education for our children.

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Additionally, diverse delivery offers the opportunity to braid the scarce funding streams available for early childhood
education, maximizing the available state and federal dollars. Over time, we anticipate such partnerships will have
the potential to help New Orleans move toward more neighborhood-based schools and provide greater access to
high quality early childhood education for all children.